Sunday, February 25, 2007

Sunday 02/25 A.M. Quickie:All College Hoops, All the Time

Saturdays in late February are about evaluations for pending bracket picks:

Florida: WTF? (No: I mean "W?! T?! F?!?!") I didn't see a game against underachieving LSU – even in Baton Rouge – as a trap game, especially without Glen Davis. Turns out that LSU is better without Big Baby. BUT: The Gators are still a 1-seed (says something about the field this year) and they will affirm it with an SEC Tournament title. But am I as confident about their chances as a repeat as I was 14 days ago (or even 7 days ago)? No.

Georgetown beats Pitt: It's very arguable that the Hoyas are playing like one of the Top 4 teams in the country right now. My "tournament darkhorse" pick of three months ago is suddenly the hot team to back.

Big 12 is interesting: Texas A&M beats Baylor by 10, Kansas thumps Iowa State by 37, Texas beats Oklahoma (Durant: 32), Texas Tech beats Okla St, Kansas State hits 20 wins: Wow, the Big 12 Tournament will be fierce among the teams at the top (but watch out for the challenges from the teams on the bubble).

Virginia beats Georgia Tech: Maybe when I said that "GA Tech" was my true darkhorse preseason pick to make the Final Four, I meant to say... um... "Virginia?" (No, but GA Tech ain't gonna make the field, let alone the FF.)

Air Force loses to TCU (11-15) by 5: And that would officially (and finally) end any interest I had in backing AFA as this year's George Mason.

Sunday's Best:

Wisconsin at OhioState. I remain convinced that the loser of this game still gets a 1-seed by winning the Big Ten Tournament, but it's one of those "file away for bracket-picking" games.

UNC at Maryland: The Terps have been playing a lot better recently, and it's a legit test for UNC to play on the road at College Park. I'll be curious to see how the Heels respond to it.

36 comments:

God the gators sounded awful on the radio. I quit listening about ten minutes into the game. If they fall behind come the tournament they are going to disappoint a lot of people.

What did the broncos do to deserve two guys to die so unexpectedly. I can't remember a team in any sport have more than one guy die in an offseason other than the indians about ten yrs ago but that was spring training.

Sorry the typing sucks so bad it is hard to type with a broken right hand.

You have to love single elimination tournaments. I am in a pool for this weeks WGC with a bunch of golf pros. 25 bucks to enter winner takes all. Im the proverbial clueless woman in the office who wins it all on sheer luck. Not bad for a guy who has no clue about golf other than tiger has a hot wife and mickleson has a hot wife and he is fat. Now if this luck at picking winners will carry over to the bball tourney.

Big 12 will be an interesting tournament. The last week of the season will also be very fun. Texas plays A&M AND KU the last two games and only sits a game behind each. A Texas sweep could result in a 3-way split of the conference title. Then I have no idea who would get that valuable 1 seed in the tourney.

Florida's not a lock for a one seed anymore. They need to win the conference tourney, hope that UNC, OSU, UCLA, and Wisconsin slip up, and KU doesn't win the Big 12. I think Florida would get the nod over A&M, but not KU.

I don't like the Bronocos, but damn, no team should have to go throw this... again. RIP.

I was just watching Sportcenter and I saw Stephen A. Smith talking about Nascar. I find that ironic. He goes from covering probably the most African American sport to what is probably the most Caucasian "sport". I can just hope that he will soon be covering the Westminster Dog Show.And Dan, I can't believe that you would think that FL is still a number 1 seed. They have beat exactly 1 ranked team all season. That was a weakened Ohio State team that would probably mop the floor with the FL now. FL is an overrated team that will not make it to the Elite 8.

Dan, LSU was 104 in the RPI. I realize that they're a better team than that, and that they are (for some reason) better without Big Baby, but that is just an atrocious loss, and the Gators were already a shaky one-seed to begin with. If you look at the things the committee takes into account, the Gators have to win out (including the SEC Tourney) to even have a shot at a #1 seed. Seriously, look at the evidence and there's no way Florida is a #1 seed right now.

The Gators loss is no big deal for their seeding, but it goes to show that they could go home the first weekend. Gotta love March.

Southern Illinois with a top 4 rpi. Will they be in the discussion for a 1 seed if they win out and some of the big conference teams don't win their conference tourneys? Probably will wind up with a 3 seed no matter what happens.

For you American Idol fans.... http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/11047890.html

There were two possible foul calls by Wisconsin (Flowers ramming into an OSU player on a loose ball with less than 2 mins left, and when Wisconsin threw away the inbound and them Taylor rammed into Harris and they gave the ball back to the Badgers), so don't even whine about a no call.

This was a physical game, and Oden was being mauled all game with little help from the refs. It's the Big Ten!! You just deal with it.

Congrats OUTRIGHT Big Ten champs Ohio State Buckeyes! Also great way to go out at home for Harris (11 pts, several key 3s) and Lewis (awesome BLOCK to clinch the game after giving up the go-ahead bucekts to Tucker).

Actually I could care less who won; neither team will do crap in the NCAA tourney. I believe it is CLASSLESS to rush the court no matter the game just as it is CLASSLESS to tear down the goalposts in FB. Act like your team is good, (or at least getting better)As for the call, I can see there not being a call especially at the end of a game. I just thought there was a lot of contact, but with the way the game was played being so physical, the refs did not call it and probably were right. And you are probably right about the charge Seth but I wouldn't cry too much for Oden as he brutalized his share of people in the lane.

That is true, but I am not a Wisconsin fan. I think both of the so-called Big Ten powerhouses will have little success in the NCAA. I mean 48 point in a loss is poor, but 49 points in a win is even worse.

Compared to that 49-48 barnburner, the most exciting game of the day was Maryland's 89-87 win over UNC. Great action up and down the court. Maybe the losers in the DC/Baltimore press can lay off Gary Williams a little now.

Excellent Carling Cup Final today in Wales, with Chelsea and Arsenal battling (literally, scrum near the end) for more than 100 minutes. Chelsea win off 2 goals from an in-form Didier Drogba. Match will be remembered probably though for this play - sickening injury, bar I was in was packed wall to wall and we were dead silent for 6 solid minutes following this awful incident.

Actually, according to the AP polls, Wisconsin, and not tOSU, was No. 1. So it was an upset, depending on your "poll preference" as the announcers on CBS termed it. Still, No. 2 beating No. 1 is shaky ground for a court-storming.

if kansas keeps beating teams by 30+, the jayhawks will probably win the Big 12 tourney and might backdoor their way into a No. 1 seed. right now, they're playing the best ball in the country. G-Town too.

I saw a picture in the newpaper this morning of Thad Matta cutting down the nets...this is getting like champagne celebrations in baseball...where does it end, regular season B10 title, conference tourny title, winning the regional in the NCAA and winning the final four...a team could in theory have 4 net cutting celebrations...that's out of hand!

(This probably won't be read by many because I'm anticipating the Monday Quickie...I'll probably repost it there, so don't yell at me)

Is this still "arguably the greatest frontline in college basketball in the last 25 years" as you suggested before the season? I'm just asking. Hey, Florida still has the best combination of talent/experience in the country and would be my pick to win it. Will I be surprised if they get knocked off in the Elite 8? Not really, because the tourny is such a crap shoot but the Gators still have everything they need to win it again. I'm not a UF fan by any means but that is as objective an analysis as I can give at this point (unlike Dan who slurps up to the Gators incessantly even though it is his wife's team and he graduated from another D-1 school from a major conference).

BTW, Joakim Noah is officially turning into a spoiled brat/baby just about every game now. Talk about a backlash. This kid had a great run during the tourny last year, but this year is doing something really stupid at least once a game. Billy D. needs to get control of him somehow.

As far teams that no one is talking about, that have a chance to go deeper in the tourament than you would think, I submit the Louisville Cardinals (no, I'm not an alum or fan, it's just an observation). I saw them dismantle Pitt in person 2 weeks ago and they have since won at Marquette and UConn. I don't think they are experienced enough to win it all, but they are very, very deep and very athletic. Pitino is obviously a proven tournament coach and has them playing well. They could really surprise and sneak into the Sweet 16 or Elite 8 with the right draw. Of course now that I've mentioned this, they'll get beat the first weekend. However, if they do go deeper, don't say I didn't warn you.

I saw Louisville play yesterday against UConn (in person), and trust me, Louisville won't be making it to the second weekend.

UConn is a bad team this year, and Louisville had trouble putting them away. No teams have had trouble putting UConn away. Hell, DePaul beat UConn by double figures.

I know it was at UConn, but that hasn't mattered this year. I was throughly unimpressed with Louisville, and won't be surprised when they bow out of the NCAA early.

As someone who follows the Big East pretty closely, the teams to watch Georgetown and Pitt (obviously) and a sleeper of Notre Dame. That is a senior heavy team that is playing out of its mind and if they gain some extra momentum through the Big East Tourney, they could be a pesty 5 or 6 seed this year.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.